A/N: Y'all, I don't even have a good reason. I've been in 3 states since October 1 and it's been cray and now I'm looking at moving again in another couple of months. Went through some pretty serious emotional shit, but I've come out the other side of it. I actually had to go back and re-read the first 9 chapters because I didn't even remember where I was, and now I know your predicament because I got to the end of chapter 9 and went "What? COME ON!" Please forgive me. 3 Big ups to my bff Lore for helping me with some of the dialogue when I got stuck.

Chapter 10 – Backpedaling

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Sun was filtering through the blinds and Caroline knew she'd never actually gone to sleep. How could she? Air was taken in slowly and then released through her nose. There was no point in laying there when she wasn't going to sleep anyway. Caroline threw back the covers and put everything back in her small suitcase and got ready to find her next shelter. This was ridiculous. If Klaus had wanted to kill her, he would have done it when he'd read the letter, right? Maybe Stefan was underestimating him, maybe she was as well. It was a fatal flaw of Caroline's that she always wanted to believe the best in people. It was also how she ended up back on that same train on her way back to Paris.

Stefan was going to be really angry with her, she knew. That was the reason she hadn't bothered getting another phone to message him and tell him that she was going back for Klaus because she just knew he'd try and talk her out of it—and if she was honest with herself, he might have been successful because Caroline wasn't even sure herself about what she was doing. She tried to focus on the music in her ears but the songs that were supposed to be calming her down only served to twist the knife a little deeper in her chest. God this all felt like such a disaster. Just once couldn't she get it right? Couldn't everything go the way it was supposed to go?

Caroline made it back to Paris late in the afternoon but spent a long while pacing nearby streets until she finally went back to the hotel well after dark. Fortunately the woman at the desk understood enough English for Caroline to convey that her husband had sent her back to get the camera but she'd forgotten to get the key from him. She was given another key, but then spent an additional five minutes pacing around in the lobby before getting in the elevator and riding up to the room. She took a deep breath and did something she hadn't done in a long time—prayed. She didn't even know if that counted anymore. Weren't vampires all damned anyway? The card slipped in and the door unlocked. Thankfully—the room was devoid of any raging hybrids. It was, however, a hot mess.

A deep sigh slipped past her lips as she opened the door further and walked inside, letting it shut behind her. Surveying the damage, she found that his room looked just as bad as the living room, if not worse. Her room, however, other than the phone, was still in pristine condition. Her first order of business was to set the room to rights. First the living room, and then his bedroom. It didn't take as long as she thought it would and afterwards she was left to sit uncomfortably waiting for the upcoming confrontation. She tried to eat, but the blood just felt like a heavy weight in her stomach and like it really wanted to come up. She'd never thrown up blood before, but she'd thrown up enough alcohol to know that blood would not be pleasant the second time around. More pacing. She'd almost talked herself out of staying and talked herself back into leaving when she heard the lock on the door click.

Klaus's head had been far off, so far off that he hadn't actually realized she was there before he opened the door, but there she was standing in the middle of the small living room—looking absolutely terrified. Good. She should be, he thought to himself. She had no idea of the wrath she would incur. The initial look of shock wore off into a much colder mask. He tossed the plastic key and his phone onto the counter and stalked towards her very, very slowly. "If you think that showing up here before I inevitably smoked you out of whatever dark corner of the world you fled to will lessen your sentence, you're wrong. Quite the contrary, Caroline. You've only denied me the pleasure of hunting you down, and in case you haven't been paying attention, I hate it when people disappoint me."

Caroline didn't even realize that she'd been retreating with every step he took toward her until she felt her back hit the wall. "Klaus, please, listen to me, I didn't—"

"Didn't you?" he cut her off, his tone and gaze equally murderous.

"Just listen to me, please. I know what you think. I know what I thought when I started. I know what you said. Yes, I lied. I came under false pretenses, but things changed while I was here. I started to feel—"

He cut her off again, "Why should I believe anything you have to say to me? Tell me. Give me one good reason, Caroline. One."

"I am TRYING to give you one if you would shut up and let me talk!" she snapped, simultaneously afraid and angry.

"Do not test my patience Carol—"

This time it was her turn to interrupt him. "No, you don't get to lecture me and be pissed off at me for betraying you!" she practically screamed at him, pushing him away from her. As soon as she made contact though she regretted it because he had her by the wrists and was holding her so tightly that she knew it should have bruised had she been human. It didn't stop her though, she kept going, "All you have done since you came to Mystic Falls is hurt people and kill people and betray people. Your family, your own sister. You get as good as you give Niklaus Mikaelson!" she shouted now, not ready to back down. He was going to hear what the hell she had to say before he ripped her throat out. "You almost killed my boyfriend, you turned him into some brain-washed hybrid toy, you tried to use my best friend to create even more pets for you because on your own you do not have the social graces to secure any kind of real loyalty outside of fear. You killed my best friend's aunt, my other best friend's mother. You almost killed ME. And in spite of that—in spite of everything you've done, everyone you've hurt, me included, all of the horrible things you've done…" she was losing steam, her voice quieting. Her mascara was utterly ruined around red-rimmed eyes and she sniffled. "In spite of all of that, I still fell in love with a monster. I'm no better than you are. We deserve each other," she barely choked out.

He was holding her wrists so tightly but it would have been so easy to crush them, which he seriously considered when she started yelling at him. Did she forget who he was? But then she said it—she was in love with a monster. He was the monster. She meant that she was in love with him. Klaus's first thought was to rip her heart out and then tear her head off for good measure—how dare she! But Caroline was the worst liar ever and the worn sincerity in her eyes spoke volumes. His grip did tighten and he heard her whimper before he shoved her away from him hard enough that she lost her balance and hit the ground. He didn't care. It was better she was away from him. He was so vehemently angry that his eyes had gone gold and fangs were bared, though thankfully not in use. He needed to break something—he wanted to break her, but couldn't bring himself to do it. The living room, instead, ended up destroyed again.

Caroline had pushed herself up against a wall again and watched through teary eyes while he destroyed their hotel room for a second time. It was when his gaze turned on her though that she felt herself actually stop breathing. She was pretty sure her heart stopped briefly as well. She pulled her knees up to her chest and held up her arms in a defensive pose (not that it would do any good), and then found herself jerked roughly to her feet once more by her wrists.

He was breathing heavily, but still seemed mostly under control when he finally spoke. "You are anything but a monster, Caroline," he finally managed through gritted teeth. "But I am, and always will be." He started to let her go—to release her and walk away, but that was not his fate to be had.

The younger vampire was at a loss, there was nothing else that she could say. She wasn't going to tell him that he could change. He could if he wanted to, he didn't want to. She couldn't tell him that she didn't care and it didn't bother her, it did. She did the only thing she could, the only thing that seemed right in that moment. Caroline grabbed Klaus and kissed him violently. It was none of the sweet playfulness of the first time she'd kissed him in the street. It was raw, emotional, and every conflicted feeling that she'd had—all the hatred, the anger, the confusion, the hope, the love, everything poured into that one kiss.

For a brief, terrifying second, she thought he was going to push her away—but then he pulled her closer and she tasted blood. Her head was spinning.